Maurice Brosnan: Hurling noise is deafening as games are not providing sufficient talking points
PUTTING HIS HAND UP: Cork's Alan Walsh scored two goals at the weekend. Pic: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
Nothing is new under the sun. Teams change, stars come and go, but the GAA’s ability to recycle the same tired grievances is eternal. Time now to talk formats, pay-per-view and the calendar.
Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before.
In 2023, Kerry and Tyrone met in an All-Ireland SFC quarter-final. Every broadcast Kerry championship game that season was behind the GAA's paywall except for one. It led to outrage.
In 2026, Kerry and Tyrone meet in an All-Ireland SFC quarter-final. Every broadcast Kerry championship game that season, except one, was again on the GAA's streaming channel. The outrage was reignited last week when the Kerry county councillors passed a motion calling on the government to make all championship games available on free-to-air TV.
All of them! Hurling and football! What a world.
In between those two flare-ups, there was an intervention from then-Taoiseach Simon Harris that took GAA president Jarlath Burns by surprise. They had been hauled before an Oireachtas committee and met with the Sports Minister.
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Why didn’t the state step in to resolve the issue then? Grandstanding is a ritual that extends far beyond the GAA.
The good news is that the motion in Kerry was tabled by Fine Gael Cllr Aoife Kennelly.
We presume she is working tirelessly with her party colleague, Patrick O'Donovan, the current sports minister, to devise a system where the state can sufficiently fund RTÉ to broadcast every championship game as they demanded.
Chalk that one down as “to be monitored".
Elsewhere, there is split-season complaining. We are at a stage where you can set your watch to the seasonal complaints: We need to respect the Fitzgibbon Cup, too many illegal handpasses, too many frees, no one is trying in the league, it is too hard in the Munster championship, we need to respect the Joe McDonagh Cup and, right on cue, as the heat rises, we have our obligatory calendar debate.
On RTÉ Radio this week, Anna Geary and Marty Morrissey complained about how everything is rushed.
Clare defender David McInerney hobbled off last Sunday and faces a race against time for the semi-final in two weeks. “It doesn’t make sense,” said Geary. Famously, of course, never an issue under the hallowed old system.
To Geary’s credit, her suggestion amidst it all to condense the league so that the championship can claim its own window was a great point.
The solution has always been to make the most of the calendar that is currently available.
Now, part of the reason all of this noise is so deafening right now is because the game itself is not providing sufficient talking points.
Of the two provincial finals and two quarter-finals, only one was a competitive contest. There have been moments of wizardry (just how good was Shane O’Donnell’s mazy first-half point after some sublime wrist work, by the way?) but in general, the fare is lukewarm.
It only amplifies the need for two semi-final crackers. The championship, the supporters and the weary columnists sorely need it. Won’t someone think of the columnists?
Here are my observations from the hurling championship.
In the end, Dublin finished with a remarkable puckout retention rate of 86% on Saturday. It sounds like a masterclass. In fact, it was a trap.
Take their first ten puckouts. They won nine. The issue was their ability to work through Clare’s ferocious press. Six times, they were turned over in doing so.
This is the danger of incomplete data. The point of a puckout is the score generated from it rather than simply recycling possession. Five of the puckouts they actually won were subsequently turned over and finished in a Clare score.
Of the 26 short puckouts Dublin won, they only managed to turn that into a point five times. The pattern was set early on; those first ten told the tale. At that point, their analysts and coaching ticket would have known the problem. Solving it is a different matter entirely.
Go long, and Clare have dropped off so they have numbers to smother the break. Go short, and they are getting pummelled. What do you do?
To their credit, Dublin tried to utilise goalkeeper Eddie Gibbons more in the second half or get more runners breaking off their half-back line.
While retention percentages can be seductive for media or TV, they are almost meaningless for teams. So much of hurling is blind to this nuance. Just four Clare wides in the opening half paints the picture of a clinical attacking display.
They had other missed shots, though, with Mark Rodgers dropping an effort short, Shane Meehan having a goal chance saved and Niall O’Farrell being blocked down.
Nevertheless, Clare can be content with 29 scores from 42 shots. Shane O’Donnell scored two points and assisted six, including being fouled for three converted frees.
Which brings us to another observation. There was a time those frees were deemed to be an issue. In the 2022 quarter-final, Tony Kelly missed an early free, a 65 and a long-range effort. For the second game in a row, Clare had to change free-taker mid-match. In his Irish Times column, Galway legend Joe Canning identified this area as one Clare had to address.
A year later, Kelly took frees against Waterford in the championship yet spelt out afterwards he was “only filling in when Aidan (McCarthy) is out.” Brian Lohan’s side hit nine out of nine placed balls last weekend. Mark Rodgers nailed an early effort from the throw-in and when he was eventually taken off, Kelly took over and was flawless.
In the championship, Rodgers has score 24 out of 28 attempts. Tony Kelly has scored 14 out of 17. Peter Duggan has a fine placed ball ability too, while his trademark score from the sideline is as impressive as ever.
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Neither of them said the other's name, but it was clear RTÉ pundit Michael Duignan and Cork manager Ben O’Connor were addressing each other with their recent comments.
In the aftermath of the Munster final, O’Connor took issue with the number of frees in the game.
“This is the fastest field game in the world. It is split-second. We had it above in the Leinster final last night, fellas looking for a fella to be sent off, the Dublin corner-back to be sent off. For what? For putting his hands out like this. As soon as he got contact, he left his hurley go, he knew that his hurley was high. Fellas looking for a red card for that.”
Duignan was on co-commentary duty for the Leinster decider and did argue Dublin defender Conor McHugh should have been sent off for his second-half tackle.
As Clare’s David Reidy was off receiving treatment on Saturday, the Offaly man took his chance to reply.
“We are talking about this for the last couple of years, these head-high tackles,” he said.
“People are criticising me, I’ve heard it recently. National media, there are lads up on The Sunday Game calling for lads when Conor McHugh made that tackle in the Leinster final, lads on RTÉ are calling for them to be sent off. They are red cards! You have a duty to the player on the field. You can’t plough into him.”
A completely one-sided quarter-final, but let us not dwell on the mismatch when we can appreciate the array of goal finishes in Thurles. Here is our definitive ranking:
8: Brian Hayes' third for his hat-trick, a straightforward finish but a trademark pass to the back post.
7: Brian Hayes’ batted finish. Becoming a popular art form now.
6: Adam Screeney squeezing it in after wrecking-ball work by Oisin Kelly.
5: Shane Barrett planting his feet and blasting high.
4: Alan Walsh’s first terrific take and first-time finish.
3: Alan Walsh’s second terrific take and first-time finish.
2: Oisin Kelly’s superb shot off the post and in.
1: Brian Hayes juggling his own hurley before steadying himself and finding the top corner.
When it comes to league encounters, their relevance to the summer championship is minimal. For Cork and Galway, however, their previous meeting may shape the way for what is to follow.
In Pearse Stadium, Michael Donoghue was honing his new system of withdrawing numbers out to drop deep and leaving a lone target man inside. Cork, just like they did in the Munster final, opted to use Robert Downey to sit. They refused to be drawn out the field.
Cork landed two goals that day with their dynamic half-forward line shredding the home outfit’s defensive shape. Brian Hayes was lethal inside. It is no secret that they will attempt the same again in a semi-final.
Post-match, while Ben O’Connor made his first of many complaints about the bid to sterilise hurling, Donoghue pointed to how Galway dealt with Cork’s puckout as a key battleground for them. That is even more pertinent now.
As expected, news emerged last week that Henry Shefflin is in the frame to be the next Kilkenny boss. It is a seismic appointment for the county after a disappointing 2026.
Once all nominations have been put forward, the county board will form a five-person committee tasked with naming their new manager. According to the Irish Sun, Kildare boss Brian Dowling has also agreed for his name to be put forward.
Dowling managed Kilkenny to two All-Ireland camogie titles before taking the helm in Kildare. It was also reported that Tipperary’s Richie Ruth is on Dowling’s ticket. The current Kildare coach also worked with Dowling at St Kieran's College.
It does beg the question, even if Shefflin is the eventual choice, where does that leave Kildare?
It has been a long-standing complaint. What is the deal with Hawk-Eye in Semple Stadium? Joe Canning, Liam Sheedy, and this paper’s columnist Brian Gavin were all critical of the delays on Sunday to consult the system, particularly for Brian Duignan’s effort in the first half.
Duignan gestured that his shot was over while the umpires waved it wide. Darragh Fitzgibbon scored at the other end. Eventually, referee Sean Stack stopped play and waited for the technology. Fair play to Brendan Cummins for explaining the situation.
“To be fair here in Thurles, HawkEye is more of a manual process than it is in Croke Park. They do not have the lasers here. In the booth, Dickie Murphy did it last night. I don’t know who is down there today. It just takes a little bit of time. That is what caused the delay. It is not that satisfactory either.”
“Sometimes there are no words,” said Galway manager Pádraic Joyce on social media. “The best.”
He followed up with a picture of himself and two-time All-Ireland winner Paul Clancy, who died at the age of 49 this week.
The Maigh Cuilinn clubman was part of a gifted generation that delivered the ultimate glory in 1998 and 2001 and also won five provincial titles. He was a colossus in that team and someone Joyce remained close to, as he told The Football Pod last year.
“We would all be close,” said Joyce, in reply to Tommy Rooney.
“Even the ‘98 squad, you are laughing when you go up to these 25-year reunions. You were thinking, we won’t be doing that, we’ll be in walking sticks. But we had one a couple of years ago which was great craic, a good night out. We have another one next year. Hopefully (I won't be there), hopefully I can send in Charlie or someone to do it. We are in contact. We are in touch.
"We are all healthy bar Paul Clancy, unfortunately, the poor divil. He is going through a little bit at the moment, but look, we are all behind him. We speak to him regularly. He is fighting a battle there.”
The service Clancy gave to his club and county, both as a player, coach and administrator, was immense. He was a pillar in the parish, a husband to Johanna, and the father of two children, Ellen and Finn.
This Galway group have a touching ability to pay tribute to fallen heroes pre-match, which they did for John O’Mahony and Billy Joyce previously. There is no doubt they will acknowledge the passing of another legend this Sunday in Croke Park.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
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